What's up everyone! So, next thursday I have a small gig in a local bar. I was planning on applying some glow in the dark paint to the tip of my drumsticks, or should I apply the paint to the hole body of the stick? Do you think it'll add more presence to the drums? What you think?

Well there are sticks rather conveniently called 'Glow Sticks' that light up on impact.

Each pair lights up a different colour and are apparently 'unbreakable'. Which i don't believe since they are incredible bendy and the ones i had all started chipping away very early on into using them. The reason they didn't break entirely is because they sounded so bad i stopped using them.

I thought it would be cool to see a drummer use glow-in-the-dark sticks. Ever see those Animusic videos? There's one where these robot drummers are using them (or animated verions of them!). I thought the visual effect was really cool.

An a related note: I really don't like black drumsticks at all. I know a guy who uses the Steve Gadd sticks and those things bug me because they take the visual away from the audience.

A friend of mine recently brought back some light-up drumsticks from a Blue Man Group show for me. They look like polyvinyl or PVC and have battery-powered blue lights in the shaft. They play kind of like you'd expect plastic sticks to play, very bendy and reboundy. I might use them for a lark some time but not for anything serious - I think it'd be a bit of calamity if I broke one!

You could always get some white sticks (like a pair of Travis Barkers) and aim a black light over your drumset. That would give you a "glow in the dark" look without having to do anything too difficult or lasting to your drumsticks.

An a related note: I really don't like black drumsticks at all. I know a guy who uses the Steve Gadd sticks and those things bug me because they take the visual away from the audience.

Yeah, I always like to see what a drummer is doing with his hands too......especially when that drummer is Gadd. Damn near impossible with those black sticks.

OP, I've always thought glow in the dark sticks a complete and total wank (best left to the hair bands of the Sunset Strip in '85). I don't think they'll add presence at all, I just think they'll look 'try-hard' and gimmicky.

But don't let my personal bias stop you by any means, if you wanna do it, go to town. But you did ask.

hahahahaa thank you guys for all your replies. I saw the glow in the dark sticks , the ones I think you are talking about are the FireSTIX, they are sticks that light up every time you hit something. At first I thought it was pretty cool, but after seeing some videos and some reviews, I found out that they actually suck!!! They start to fall apart really quick (though they don't 'break' as they say....pieces start to fall), they are flexible, and they give an awful sound. I was thinking something like putting the glow paint just in the tip of the drumstick. I got this idea from watching a couple of times at lars ulrich (metallica), he has the stick black, and the tip white, and it looked pretty cool to me. Anyways, I think maybe I'll just have one pair of sticks 'pimped' and the rest of my sticks normal.

hahahahaa thank you guys for all your replies. I saw the glow in the dark sticks , the ones I think you are talking about are the FireSTIX, they are sticks that light up every time you hit something. At first I thought it was pretty cool, but after seeing some videos and some reviews, I found out that they actually suck!!! They start to fall apart really quick (though they don't 'break' as they say....pieces start to fall), they are flexible, and they give an awful sound. I was thinking something like putting the glow paint just in the tip of the drumstick. I got this idea from watching a couple of times at lars ulrich (metallica), he has the stick black, and the tip white, and it looked pretty cool to me. Anyways, I think maybe I'll just have one pair of sticks 'pimped' and the rest of my sticks normal.

By the way, how many sticks should I bring to the gig?

it depends , how often do you brake your sticks?, how many songs are you playing? , etc.
but I never go to a gig with less than 3 pairs :
one pair to actually play
one pair to have in the stick holder , in case the stick slip or brake during a song
one extra pair to replace broken sticks

How many sticks:
As many as you want to carry. I would be most comfortable with two back-up pairs. And find sneaky places to keep them, one of my favorite spots for the spare stick is behind me in my belt...makes me feel like batman.

As far as the glow sticks, etc.:
I think a "glow in the dark" (like the green-yellow stuff and tape) would be silly if you aren't actually playing in the dark. One thing I saw (at Blue man group) was the sticks painted bright neon colors, like a green, yellow orange, or pink. This would jump out a lot more, and you could even match body paint too!!! Haha, depending on what kind of band you're in. But once again, only paint your sticks if you're comfortable with it flaking off and getting on your cymbals, heads, and whatnot.

Hey, so I decided to buy the Firestix. Probably not gonna use them on the whole show, maybe just for the intro or the first song, just to make sure everyone is paying attention to our show. Anyway, I'll try and post some pics or maybe a short video and tell you how it worked out, if it was fun or it's a NO for the future.....any additional comments?